2.17.2012

hat trick

This week has been pretty exciting for me. It was one of those weeks where "putting it out there" has really paid off. I submit projects I do and interesting blog posts I write from time to time, here and there, to different places online, hoping to get more exposure for things I've done that I'm proud of. This week, "corner blog" content was published at two other blogs, and an article about Stella and her street style was published at a third. That's a hat trick!

Here's the scoop:

This past weekend I made THESE really cute valentines out of paint sample chip strips. I've been shouting it from the mountaintops, so you might have been under a rock if you didn't hear about them yet. Turns out I didn't invent these things (I thought I had), but I sent the post to Benjamin Moore Paints, and on Monday they let me know that they would be part of a Valentine's Day post on their color blog called Color Chats. You can see their post about paint chip valentines HERE!

The same day I heard from the editor at Apartment Therapy Family who said they would be featuring photos and a blurb about Oliver's second birthday party and birthday cake as part of their "Best Kids Parties" series, also on Valentine's Day. Last year, the same blog featured a tour of Stella's room, our homemade dollhouse, and our art walls, so I was really excited to hear from them again. I had submitted SIX different ideas to Apartment Therapy about two weeks beforehand, so I was happy they bit on at least one! You can see the A.T. piece HERE. (Oh, and the day after Valentine's Day, it was picked up on the cooking branch of Apartment Therapy, called The Kitchn, see HERE. Bonus!)

(image via Modern Kiddo)

And then yesterday Stella was featured as the "Weekly Kiddo" at Modern Kiddo, a wonderful, wonderful blog written by Miss Dottie and Alix, who specialize in writing about all the wonderful vintage things you used to love as a child, as well as all the wonderful vintage things you appreciate more because you are an adult! Click HERE to see this amazing layout with so many wonderful shots of Stella, and a fun, playful article about her, too! Thank you so much to the ladies at Modern Kiddo, and to Miss Dottie for such a sweet, sweet article.

It's been really rewarding to have all of this come together at the same time this week. And curiously, it leaves me wanting more. Not more publicity necessarily, but rather to raise the bar on what I write about, the photography I share (when will I buy a real camera?) and the reasons I blog at all. It's interesting (to me) that this is where I'm at today. It's a good reset for me, when my ego can sit still for a minute to rest on its laurels, while my intellect moves forward. Do you know what I mean?

I recently found this quote that was floating all over Facebook. It's by Ira Glass. I read it every day. It's another great inspiration to keep doing what you do (even if it is just baking cakes and making valentines!):

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through." -Ira Glass

Thank you, TangledLou! I want you to know I am stopping by to catch up on your blog whenever I can. I am reading everything, but if I don't have enough time to leave the kind of comment your wonderful writing deserves, I don't. But know I am reading! xoxo

ABOUT ME:

I am an architect, mother, wife and native East Coaster living in San Francisco, and the paper artist behind papel SF. My work can be seen at The Jealous Curator, Colossal, My Modern Metropolis, Apartment Therapy, and the Martha Stewart Living and Williams-Sonoma blogs, among others. Thank you for reading!

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